this. She had grown accustomed to her invalid life at last, and was
cheerful in it, and he thought it unwise to make her restless, by
exciting hopes which might after all end in fresh disappointment.

She met the girls with a bright smile as they came in, and said:

"Oh, Clovy, it was you I rang for! I am troubled for fear Bridget will
meddle with the things on Papa's table. You know he likes them to be
left just so. Will you please go and remind her that she is not to
touch them at all? After the carpet is put down, I want you to dust the
table, so as to be sure that everything is put back in the same place.
Will you?"

"Of course I will!" said Clover, who was a born housewife, and dearly
loved to act as Katy's prime minister.

"Sha'n't I fetch you the pincushion too, while I'm there?"

"Oh yes, please do! I want to measure."

"Katy," said Elsie, "those mats of mine are most done, and I would like
to finish them and put them on Papa's washstand before he comes back.
Mayn't I stop practising now, and bring my crochet up here instead?"

"Will there be plenty of time to learn the new exercise before Miss
Phillips comes, if you do?"

"I think so, plenty. She doesn't come till Friday, you know."

"Well, then it seems to me that you might just as well as not. And